This invention relates to navigational aids and operational aids for utilization in a marine environment.
Related copending applications and filed contemporaneously are Ser. No. 271,902 entitled IMPROVED RADAR SYSTEM, Ser. No. 271,917 entitled NAVIGATION AID AND METHOD OF OPERATING THE SAME, Ser. No. 271,918 entitled ELECTRONIC CHART SYSTEM, and Ser. No. 271,915 entitled METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR AUTOMATIC DISTRESS CALL SIGNAL TRANSMISSION.
As the waterways of the world become more congested by the presence of ever larger numbers of vessels thereon due to the increased volume of trade being conducted via such waterways, the need for operational and navigational aids for these vessels is heightened. This need is further enhanced by the complexity and size of the vessels being used today. The aids are used to warn of dangerous conditions in the external environment such as other vessels, islands, or weather conditions. Examples of these aids are radar, sonar, and radio transmitters. Additionally, aids exist for assistance in the operation of the vessel, these aids communicating to the operator various informational data so that the vessel is maintained in proper operating condition. These types of operational aids include knot meters, flow meters, motor speed monitors, and the like.
In an effort to make the waterways more efficient and safe, numerous regulations and statutes have been enacted which require certain instruments and aids to be incorporated on the vessel depending on its class. Generally, as the vessel increases in size and complexity, the amount of required instrumentation additionally increases. These regulations have been developed and are maintained so as to prevent collisions and to facilitate the efficient movement of vessels within a waterway.
It is obvious that a collision between two vessels has a dramatic impact upon the economics, human life, and the environment in which the collision occurs. A rupture of a super tanker makes instant national and international news due to impact.
To prevent such collisions and to comply with the marine regulations, the vessel is equipped with sundry electronic and nonelectronic instruments so as to appraise the operator of the condition within and without the ship. These instruments are typically independent of each other and perform as stand-alone mechanisms. The data supplied by each instrument is raw and not correlated to the other conditions which are being measured. For example, the radar equipment should be monitored for approaching vessels or land masses; this monitoring requires constant surveillance by the operator.
Numerous devices additionally need mundane but constant monitoring so that a particular situation will not get out of hand.
Some of the electronic instruments which are used include radar, sonar, and the autopilot controls which are stand-alone systems and operate completely independent, one from the other. The data from each must be manually cross-matched.
Nonelectronic apparatuses are also used in the operation of the vessel; such as paper charts, clocks, and logs. In operation, the pilot needs to obtain these charts and match the data contained therein to the electronic instrument data being communicated. Additionally, at discrete time intervals, typically every four hours, the operator must enter selected data into the logs so that the operation of the craft may be later analyzed. These logs additionally provide another benefit in that their data will assist such industries as the fishing industry to relocate fruitful fishing zones.
It is clear therefore, that the number of such instruments within the cockpit has been increasing so as to create severe space limitations upon further additions thereto. To perform its operations, each instrument contains similar, if not identical, components to components of the other instruments, such as a microcomputer or other control means, for example. This duplication results in a much higher cost, space, and power for the overall aggregation of independent instruments maintained on a vessel as navigational and operational aids.
A much higher concern exists in the possible overwhelming of the operator by the amount of incoming raw data from each individual independent instrument system. Much of this data may be of critical importance and should be monitored and assimilated by the operator so that its significance is made apparent.
The sheer number of instruments within the cockpit which must be correlated, that is the data from one instrument matched with data from other instruments to determine the relative significance thereof, also reduces the operator's efficiency in handling this flood of raw data.